How well does the sub integrate with the small ported 2 ways? I am having trouble deciding to go with sealed or ported sub(s) as I am looking for mostly music quality.
I enjoyed the pics of your build.. Excellent work...
I also thought it was interesting how you like the M42. I got a free high mileage E36 318is and have decided to keep it 4 cylinder. I love the lighter drivetrain... I got the car down to under 2300 lbs and have a little more to go... And this is with 255/40-17 tires
Is there any directionality you have noticed with your sub? I was considering building 2 sealed 12" subs to maintain stereo effect (still some argument on that, I guess, and I would like two to open possibility of higher crossover point in a three-way configuration).
I am also collecting plate amps from swap meet subwoofers (Yamaha, Infinity and JBL). I have found them for 15 bucks. Just throw away the cheap woofers and replace with decent quality from partsexpress or madisound Cheap way of trying Gedde's approach...
Thanks... Todd
I enjoyed the pics of your build.. Excellent work...
I also thought it was interesting how you like the M42. I got a free high mileage E36 318is and have decided to keep it 4 cylinder. I love the lighter drivetrain... I got the car down to under 2300 lbs and have a little more to go... And this is with 255/40-17 tires
Is there any directionality you have noticed with your sub? I was considering building 2 sealed 12" subs to maintain stereo effect (still some argument on that, I guess, and I would like two to open possibility of higher crossover point in a three-way configuration).
I am also collecting plate amps from swap meet subwoofers (Yamaha, Infinity and JBL).
I have found them for 15 bucks. Just throw away the cheap woofers and replace with decent quality from partsexpress or madisound Cheap way of trying Gedde's approach...Thanks... Todd
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Hi Todd,
The integration with the 2-ways was OK, but if I did it again, I would build two smaller 10" subs so I could run them as a stereo pair. The rooms that I have used this sub in have never really been ideal, so most of my dissatisfaction comes from that. I got the best results when I put the sub in the middle, between the 2-way's. Overall, the sub sounds good, but you need to spend a lot of time messing with different positions. Like I mentioned...build a stereo pair. I can see putting this one in a corner & using it for 30Hz & below...sub-sonic stuff for movies.
I recently built some ZRT towers, and the sub is no longer in use since they are flat down to 30Hz. For music, stereo bass seems to be the way to go.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/199509-current-project-zaph-zrt-2-5-change-methodology.html
It is good to hear that you are an M42 fan. They are good little motors, with a couple of major, but easily preventable faults. If you haven't already, head on over to M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS - Powered by vBulletin.
EDIT:
Your avatar image gives me the willies. Those are nasty little buggers.
The integration with the 2-ways was OK, but if I did it again, I would build two smaller 10" subs so I could run them as a stereo pair. The rooms that I have used this sub in have never really been ideal, so most of my dissatisfaction comes from that. I got the best results when I put the sub in the middle, between the 2-way's. Overall, the sub sounds good, but you need to spend a lot of time messing with different positions. Like I mentioned...build a stereo pair. I can see putting this one in a corner & using it for 30Hz & below...sub-sonic stuff for movies.
I recently built some ZRT towers, and the sub is no longer in use since they are flat down to 30Hz. For music, stereo bass seems to be the way to go.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/199509-current-project-zaph-zrt-2-5-change-methodology.html
It is good to hear that you are an M42 fan. They are good little motors, with a couple of major, but easily preventable faults. If you haven't already, head on over to M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS - Powered by vBulletin.
EDIT:
Your avatar image gives me the willies. Those are nasty little buggers.
I wouldn't use ported mid / highs If you want to integrate a subwoofer unless the port is tuned much lower than the woofer - subwoofer XO.
Read carefully .... the stuffing was tried and removed.
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To OP:
Fantastic fine detailed woodworking skillz! Major props!
I truly hope your apartment has 1' thick concrete walls between units. You get noise complaints?
Did you originally consider or tinker with the idea of the use of the Dayton MKIII? It looks like more sub for the money on paper IMO but I suspect the TB was more practical to tune. Just curious
Eric
Fantastic work there..
On the E30 side, you might like my car.. It is an '88 325i in excellent condition. Started life out as a 325i SE Auto: Now has an S50B32, 5 speed manual and full running gear from an M Coupé. It's a bit of an animal..
I'm yet to build a stereo for it but hopefully I can do it justice...
Jai
On the E30 side, you might like my car.. It is an '88 325i in excellent condition. Started life out as a 325i SE Auto: Now has an S50B32, 5 speed manual and full running gear from an M Coupé. It's a bit of an animal..
I'm yet to build a stereo for it but hopefully I can do it justice...
Jai
A local guy had a sweet E30 with S52 conversion (the motor came from his E36 M3 he crashed). He sold it to get a really clean, stock E36 M3 4 door (kids).
Thanks for the input on the mono vs stereo subs. I may re-purpose a pair of Cerwin Vega D-7 cabinets (still looking for subs to put in) to use as bass units for a modular system I want to play with. I am not convinced I am going to like the sound of the CV's for the money I would need to spend on rebuilding factory woofers. The bookshelf speakers I will use for highs is ported, but I will close the port off and seal them as they would be used for highs only.. Only issue, is choosing a woofer as I don't know if I want to use as dedicated subs, or crossover a little higher as in a 12" three way...
If you do go with dual subs, keep us updated. I am building subs for music, but I may also make a bunch of small subs to add for HT if I go that route in the future...
And I took the picture of that spider. It was huge, and was in the doorway of a park restroom up in the mountains.
Thanks for the input on the mono vs stereo subs. I may re-purpose a pair of Cerwin Vega D-7 cabinets (still looking for subs to put in) to use as bass units for a modular system I want to play with. I am not convinced I am going to like the sound of the CV's for the money I would need to spend on rebuilding factory woofers. The bookshelf speakers I will use for highs is ported, but I will close the port off and seal them as they would be used for highs only.. Only issue, is choosing a woofer as I don't know if I want to use as dedicated subs, or crossover a little higher as in a 12" three way...
If you do go with dual subs, keep us updated. I am building subs for music, but I may also make a bunch of small subs to add for HT if I go that route in the future...
And I took the picture of that spider. It was huge, and was in the doorway of a park restroom up in the mountains.
OK, so here's a nearly four year thread resurrection for everyone's enjoyment.
First off, apologies to the folks that never got a response from me. I sort of got busy with work and stuff, and I didn't check the thread much. Anyway, since then I have gotten married, bought a house (with a garage that I have put a ton of work into!) and I had a very custom engine built for my car after the original one's timing chain decided it didn't want to behave.
Anyway, in late 2012 I built some Zaph ZRT 2.5's in a vented enclosure and this sub essentially collected dust until about a month ago. The ZRT's are pretty solid down to 35-40Hz depending on the room, and only using them with a stereo amp really neatened up the living room in the apartment I was in at the time. Then my wife and I bought a house and the sub got a little beaten up during the move, and it sat in my garage for a couple more years. I wanted to bring it in to the new living room, but I disliked the cosmetic damage it had suffered and so it sat.
A couple of months ago I decided that the sub and amp rack needed to leave the garage. The plan was to clean them up and sell them on Craigslist. So, I took the driver and terminal block out, did some sanding to get the exterior nice and flat, cut a quart of RustOleum Flat Black Enamel with some mineral spirits and rolled the sucker. A 5 gallon bucket fit perfectly within the sub recess, which made it possible to paint all 6 sides at once. I did 3 coats of paint, with a light sanding after the first 2.
I have found that mineral spirits are a good compromise for thinning enamel paint. Acetone makes it flow better, but it dries WAY too fast and it is just not the best stuff to breathe. Mineral spirits give plenty of time to work and touch-up if debris gets into the wet paint, but you do need to wait ~24 hours before sanding.
Once the paint dried, I checked the wiring and put the driver back in place.
Rolling the paint worked out a lot better than spraying since the spray gun kicks up a ton of dust and dirt. Building a paint booth out of tarps was too much work. The roller does leave a few small fuzzes in the paint, which might be avoidable but I was unable to prevent it after experimenting on the 3 new coats. Once the paint dried, they were basically invisible anyway.
The red oak base was also a little yucky, so I wiped it down with some Simple Green and then used some furniture polish to give it a little bit of sheen. Overall, the Danish Oil finish has held up pretty well.
The terminal block was looking a little tarnished, so I polished it up a bit too.
The finished product looks very nice now. It looks better than it did back in 2010 when I first built it, mainly because I have a lot more experience with paint now, and I have learned a few lessons in the art of patience. Paint demands patience...and despite that it still gets tempting to try to rush it sometimes!
As I mentioned, the idea was to clean this up and sell it on CL. Well, after looking at it and giving it a little test with some frequency sweeps, I decided that I would prefer to keep it. It now sits in my living room, and is used with my ZRT's. My DCX2496 digital crossover and another A500 amp had been collecting dust along with this sub, and they are once again in use. The sub is crossed over at 35Hz with a 4th order Butterworth LPF, which works perfectly with the natural roll-off of the ZRT's (so I am not applying any filtering to those). It is amazing how much additional content is hiding in the range below 35Hz...it is subtle, but it is there in everything from TV/movies to most music. It really adds in a little extra "dimension" to things!
So, that's the update for my monster sub. It's more of a resurrection, really. Anyway, I am glad that I finally got my butt into gear and refinished this thing!
First off, apologies to the folks that never got a response from me. I sort of got busy with work and stuff, and I didn't check the thread much. Anyway, since then I have gotten married, bought a house (with a garage that I have put a ton of work into!) and I had a very custom engine built for my car after the original one's timing chain decided it didn't want to behave.
Anyway, in late 2012 I built some Zaph ZRT 2.5's in a vented enclosure and this sub essentially collected dust until about a month ago. The ZRT's are pretty solid down to 35-40Hz depending on the room, and only using them with a stereo amp really neatened up the living room in the apartment I was in at the time. Then my wife and I bought a house and the sub got a little beaten up during the move, and it sat in my garage for a couple more years. I wanted to bring it in to the new living room, but I disliked the cosmetic damage it had suffered and so it sat.
A couple of months ago I decided that the sub and amp rack needed to leave the garage. The plan was to clean them up and sell them on Craigslist. So, I took the driver and terminal block out, did some sanding to get the exterior nice and flat, cut a quart of RustOleum Flat Black Enamel with some mineral spirits and rolled the sucker. A 5 gallon bucket fit perfectly within the sub recess, which made it possible to paint all 6 sides at once. I did 3 coats of paint, with a light sanding after the first 2.
I have found that mineral spirits are a good compromise for thinning enamel paint. Acetone makes it flow better, but it dries WAY too fast and it is just not the best stuff to breathe. Mineral spirits give plenty of time to work and touch-up if debris gets into the wet paint, but you do need to wait ~24 hours before sanding.
Once the paint dried, I checked the wiring and put the driver back in place.
Rolling the paint worked out a lot better than spraying since the spray gun kicks up a ton of dust and dirt. Building a paint booth out of tarps was too much work. The roller does leave a few small fuzzes in the paint, which might be avoidable but I was unable to prevent it after experimenting on the 3 new coats. Once the paint dried, they were basically invisible anyway.
The red oak base was also a little yucky, so I wiped it down with some Simple Green and then used some furniture polish to give it a little bit of sheen. Overall, the Danish Oil finish has held up pretty well.
The terminal block was looking a little tarnished, so I polished it up a bit too.
The finished product looks very nice now. It looks better than it did back in 2010 when I first built it, mainly because I have a lot more experience with paint now, and I have learned a few lessons in the art of patience. Paint demands patience...and despite that it still gets tempting to try to rush it sometimes!
As I mentioned, the idea was to clean this up and sell it on CL. Well, after looking at it and giving it a little test with some frequency sweeps, I decided that I would prefer to keep it. It now sits in my living room, and is used with my ZRT's. My DCX2496 digital crossover and another A500 amp had been collecting dust along with this sub, and they are once again in use. The sub is crossed over at 35Hz with a 4th order Butterworth LPF, which works perfectly with the natural roll-off of the ZRT's (so I am not applying any filtering to those). It is amazing how much additional content is hiding in the range below 35Hz...it is subtle, but it is there in everything from TV/movies to most music. It really adds in a little extra "dimension" to things!
So, that's the update for my monster sub. It's more of a resurrection, really. Anyway, I am glad that I finally got my butt into gear and refinished this thing!
I am loving this thing (again) so far. I watched In The Shadow Of The Moon the other night, and the Apollo 11 launch is amazing with the sub adding in all of the <35Hz content! Don't get me wrong, my ZRT 2.5's in the vented enclosures are no slouches, but as they say in the automotive world, "there's no replacement for displacement!"
I am going to get my measurement mic in there to do some FR testing to see about really dialing things in for the room. Since the DCX2496 has some EQ capabilities, the plan is to make use of that as much as possible to go for a nice flat response as much as possible.
I am going to get my measurement mic in there to do some FR testing to see about really dialing things in for the room. Since the DCX2496 has some EQ capabilities, the plan is to make use of that as much as possible to go for a nice flat response as much as possible.
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